Felt’s Facts: Snow Canyon among teams with huge turnarounds

Felt’s Facts – 2017 Week 6

Halfway through the regular season, 10 teams savor perfect records while 13 others remain winless. There’s at least one unbeaten team in every classification.

A big matchup between undefeated teams this week sees Sky View at Mountain Crest in a Class 4A, Region 12 showdown. Another game pairs winless teams as Carbon visits Emery County in Class 3A North.

5-0 Starts

Eight schools have raced to 5-0 starts this year. Here’s a look at the last time each of them matched, or bettered, that start.

Skyridge (second season) and Summit Academy (sixth year) are off to their best-ever starts.

After winning just five games the last three seasons, resurgent Timpanogos has matched its best start and longest winning streak, originally set in 2012.

Grand County looks to go 6-0 for the first time since 1997.

In 2015, Mountain Crest won its first eight games while Sky View captured its first 12, a school record. Incidentally, Sky View coach Danilo Robinson remains the only unbeaten first-year coach.

Last year, Bingham stormed to a 14-0 start and the state championship before losing an out-of-state contest and South Summit romped to a 6-0 start.

Two other teams clock in at 4-0. Milford enjoys its best start since 1994 when the Tigers won their first eight games, a school record. Corner Canyon is off to its fastest start since 2014 when the Chargers took their first 12 contests, also a school record.

Turnarounds

Midway through the regular season, Altamont, Judge, Millard and North Sevier leads the state as the most-improved teams (which the NCAA calculates by taking the year-to-year difference in victories and the difference in losses, adding the two numbers and dividing by 2). Altamont and North Sevier have moved from 1-9 last year to 4-1 so far, and Judge and Millard from 0-10 to 3-2, an improvement of 5.5 games. Three teams are 4.5 games better than last season: Payson, Richfield (both 1-9 to 3-2) and Timpanogos (3-7 to 5-0).

Altamont hasn’t been 4-1 since 2002 and North Sevier’s only better start came in 1996 when the Wolves began the season 9-0.

Other teams experiencing turn-around seasons include Snow Canyon and Weber, which last saw 4-1 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. And Parowan enjoys a 3-1 start for the first time since 2010.

This Week’s Most-played Rivalries (min. 50 games)

Only one series qualifies this week: Cedar and Hurricane revive their rivalry for the 67th time since 1949. Cedar rules the series 45-18-3, but the foes have split the last four.

First-time Matchups (4)

Bear River at Green Canyon, Bonneville at Park City, North Sanpete at Summit Academy, Olympus at Lehi and Wayne at Richfield sophomores.

Getting Reaquainted

A dozen games pit teams that haven’t met since at least 2010.

North Summit at Delta (last met in 1969) – Series tied 2-2; all previous meetings came in the state playoffs.

Kirtland-Central (N.M.) at Monticello (1986) – Monticello trails 4-1.

Davis at Woods Cross (1994) – Davis leads 15-1; WX only series victory came in 1993.

Alta’s Zach Engstrom remains 14th in both receiving yards (2,390) and receptions (143) as the Hawks had a bye last week.

Dixie’s Hobbs Nyberg is 11th in receiving yards (2,515) and 90 yards from moving into the top-10. He’s tied for 13th in TD receptions (30) and two away from 10th place. Nyberg is 18th in receptions (134).

Lehi QB Cammon Cooper ranks fifth in passing yards (8,237), ninth in touchdown passes (76, and three away from the top-5) and 12th in total offense (8,162 yards). He’s third in completions (664, but 87 away from second) and fourth in and attempts (1,101). Dallin Holker is 19th in receptions (133) and Kade Moore ranks eighth in receptions (167) and 15th in reception yards (2,344).

Taylorsville dual-threat quarterback Dane Leituala remains in 10th place in total offense (8,658 yards), but just 120 yards from overtaking Jordan’s Alex Hart (2008-09) for ninth. He’s also tied for 12th in touchdowns-responsible-for (89 – 37 rushing and 52 passing), but just four away from the top-10.

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About the Author

George Felt is a resident of northern Utah and is widely considered the premier expert on high school football in the Beehive State. He published two books in the 1990s on the history of Utah high school football and, as Utah’s unofficial prep football historian, provides Felt’s Facts to the media and gridiron fans each week.